topsoil

Mark McIlkenny got 2 from 3 rides, Berwick won 24-12. It's good to see how many people stay behind and watch the juniors racing, you often get better racing than in the main match. Berwick have got a good junior setup going and good to see the other Northern tracks getting teams in the league as well.

Depends what you call a "foreign" rider. Berwick have Dany Gappmaier, Jye Etheridge and Theo Pijper, all been at reserve this season, all "foreign", but all live in this county full time during the season, so not much travelling expenses.

But neither of these points will be taken into consideration by some fans on here

Biggest and most comfortable win over Edinburgh for some time but still whinging...

Berwick can't afford Morris for a whole season. If you would like to fund his wages go ahead.

Don't think there was anybody who seriously thought they would stay there for long. Been punching above their weight to get there in the first place. A mid table finish will be a good result for this team

Berwick are punching well above their weight to be in their current league position, due to a lot of home meetings. A comfortable home win.

Well that was certainly an interesting night. Not seen anything like the heat 13 saga for a while. I think I had two birthdays before it was completed. A lot of talking points. Personally I thought the move of the night was David Howe in heat 14, his third to first up the back straight, I thought there was bound to carnage, I can only imagine how that felt to be on a bike. You want pantomime villains, incidents, drama, talking points, you got it tonight. Life's never dull.

It is a world championship, whatever they want to call it. If the Poles don't want to turn out, that's up to them. But it was great to see Britain dominate a meeting like this, for the first time in ages. And also funny to see the reaction from the Poles to track conditions. Not getting things all their own way.

A week ago I would have been confident of a win, but with Proctor as a guest and Jorgo and Berge coming back to haunt us no doubt, this could now be a tough meeting. Nathan Greaves usually goes well, as evidenced in the Under 21 meeting, a lot could hinge on how Jordan Stewart and Mikkel B Andersen go on their first trip. Hopefully Berwick can re-produce the form of last week. If the racing is as good as last week we are in for a cracker. Hopefully some sunshine and a good following up from Redcar to add to the atmosphere. Looking forward to this one.

Is the NSS the kind of track you can slow down a race? Far too many lines available I would think

So really his team mate let him down by coming last? Pathetic of him to win the race

Interesting you call winning a race pathetic. What would you use to describe the riders finishing last?

I understand what you are saying, but I can't see how this season is different from any other. Berwick have had some poor teams in the past, there have been some very poorly prepared tracks before, I can remember some riders finding it difficult to turn the bike. The bikes are faster now, the riders more professional. On the whole, apart from the last two meetings, scores at Shielfield have been close this season. Hopefully you will be entertained until the end of the season. Intrigued by what you mean by the club creating problems itself. You mean with the track? The line up?

Looking back at my programme there was also:- Gappmaier passing Wethers and Pijper passing Wilkinson in heat 2, NBJ passing Morris heat 7, Pijper passing Covatti heat 8, Summers passing Morris heat 10 and Jye holding off a faster Covatti in heat 12. But this isn't an argument I am going to win, because it seems like you are fed up. This intrigues me, because I don't think the "entertainment" has got worse for any reason. I'm beginning to think that so many people whinging and complaining about the sport has had an affect on fans.

It's funny to see people's reaction to Hancock and Poland. Because it is Hancock, he is being smart. Had this been an older rider in the third level in Britain, the National league, there would have been uproar, calls for bans on older riders taking the place of youngsters.

Dunno, is he?

I've seen my fair share of disappointing qualifiers in the World Cup in the four team version. A lot of times you had two teams of a higher standard than the other two. The run off and final meetings should be better whatever format you use.

I dare anybody to use the word tedium after the passes by Howe, Doolan and especially Summers tonight

Some excellent racing tonight, the passes by Howe, Doolan and Summers in particular were superb. Agree with you the Summers move in heat 13 as good as I have seen at Berwick in a long time. It came after a nice move by Aarnio off the second bend to pass him in the first place. The rule which affected Covatti was brought in this season, to stop tactical moves to have races stoppped when the opposition are on a 5-1. In my opinion it is a good rule, too many times I have seen potential 5-1's overturned in a re-run. Tough on Covatti maybe, but he was well behind in the original race. I can also sympathise with the Wilkinson / Wethers incident. Wethers was legitimately injured. I want to see four riders in a race. It was explained afterwards that is the only way a rider originally replaced could be re-stated. All in all some very encouraging signs for Berwick tonight. A big turnaround from the Tyne Tweed meeting. The track also looked the best it has this season as well.

So what you're asking for is even more fixtures that you may choose to stay away from and the BSPA to arrange the fixturee list around your Summer holidays :-)

Bandits riders will have to gate better than they did in the Tyne Tweed Trophy meeting. Newcastle won comfortably that night. Not having Ashley Morris at reserve takes an ace card away from Newcastle for me, but Matty Wethers is very capable around Shielfield. Two evenly matched teams, I can see another tight one, lots of former Bandits and Shielfield specialists in the Newcastle line up. Hopefully decent weather tomorrow and a good following up from Newcastle to add to the atmosphere.

Funny how everybody lauds the Polish leagues, we should be following their example, blah blah blah. They only have seven home fixtures each over there. Is it killing the sport over there, the lack of continuity, only one home fixture every two weeks at the best?

Sorry, got you now. Hard to tell on here with the amount of whining that goes on.

Why? I can understand it when England games are on, but not for the rest of the fixtures.